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VANCOUVER - B.C. Lions considered the loss of Jovan Olafioye to the NFL inevitable after his rookie season in 2010. The fact that he’s still here, two years later, is one of those gifts from heaven -- or cosmic karma, if you prefer.

The giant right tackle was to have been one of three movers and shakers from last year’s team off to the NFL in the free agency period, leaving the Grey Cup champions moved and shaken.

All three -- Olafioye, linebacker Solomon Elimimian and defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell -- subsequently returned, for various reasons, and now hope to be fitted with another outsized ring at the end of the 2012 season.

After last year -- when he was still only 23 (Olafioye’s birthday is December 16) -- he was a considered close to a can’t-miss candidate to stick with the St. Louis Rams. Bring along the list of prerequisites: Huge (6’6”, 325), strong, quick feet, long arms, nasty. Olafioye got a check mark in every box.

He only flunked one subject, but it was a big one: his medical exam. The Rams, eager to sign him, backed off when tests showed Olafioye was prone to hypertension, a condition which runs in his family. And he had neglected his medication, believing he had his cardiac issue under control and it wouldn’t be a problem.

“A lot of teams were very impressed with my tapes and my workouts,” Olafioye said Wednesday, after being named the West Division’s most outstanding lineman for the second straight season. “It was just the medical issue. If I can get my stuff together, I’ll get another shot. But I’m comfortable here. I love it here. I’m not too hyped about the NFL.”

For now, Olafioye won’t be going anywhere -- except to Toronto, later this month, for Grey Cup week and the CFL awards gala. Whether his teammates go along with him won’t be determined until the West Division final at BC Place on Nov. 18.

He was one of three Lions named as finalists for the league’s six individual awards Wednesday -- returner Tim Brown (special teams) and defensive tackle Jabar Westerman (rookie) were the others. But three other Lions were notable absences -- quarterback Travis Lulay, last year’s most outstanding player, middle linebacker Adam Bighill and running back Andrew Harris.

Both Lulay and Harris lost out to Calgary’s Jon Cornish, a double nominee for most outstanding player and Canadian player of the year. Bighill, whose defensive stats were comparable, was overlooked in favour of Eskimos’ middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt, even though Bighill played on the No. 1-ranked defensive team and Sherritt on No. 8.

Olafioye has the best chance of being named the Lions’ only individual award winner this season because he was a finalist last year, losing out to Montreal’s Josh Bourke. The same two players are up for the trophy again. Bourke, then in his fifth season, took the award in 2011 over Olafioye, then in his second year, probably because of seniority and the fact Bourke plays left tackle.

Left tackle, after all, has a certain mystique about it. Because a right-handed quarterback’s head and body are mostly turned to the right -- and most quarterbacks, like the general population, are right-handed -- the left tackle is lineman who protects the QB’s blind side, or back side, when he sets up to throw.

Olafioye plays the right tackle position only because the team’s left tackle, 34-year-old Ben Archibald, has played the left side most of his career and he’s more comfortable there. No matter to Olafioye, who has played right tackle, left tackle, both guard positions and could undoubtedly master centre, if given the opportunity.

“He’s a tough hombre,” said Lions head coach Mike Benevides. “He’s consistent, he cares, he’s everything you’d want in a lineman. I know, for the common person, it’s hard to grade a lineman. There are no stats to lean on. But our team stats bear out his contribution. We’re No. 1 in offence, the No. 1 rushing team, and Jovan shuts people down, over and over again. I’ve lost track of the game balls we’ve given him as our best offensive lineman.”

There’s a certain unfairness to it all. Offensive stars -- quarterbacks, running backs, receivers -- get measured by all kinds of statistics and record pursuits. Even pass rushers are gauged by sacks, pressures, hurries, forced fumbles and recoveries, even though the men who stand in their way take pride in only one number -- zero -- to all of the aforementioned.

The Lions finished the regular season tied with Montreal for the fewest sacks allowed -- 30. But how many was Olafioye responsible for, if any?

“That’s one I can’t help you with. The CFL has never recorded the offensive lineman involved in a sack,” explained league statistician Steve Daniel.

Inconveniently, the men who’ve crossed the line with Olafioye, the opponents whose evenings and afternoons he’s turned into nightmares, were unavailable for comment Wednesday.

It’ll be his decision whether he tries the NFL again -- Olafioye is free to at the end of this season. If he does, he’ll go with the best wishes of those many CFL sack dancers he’s turned into wallflowers.

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Lions 'best in West' Jovan Olafioye gets a second shot at award

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